Expected USAID Cuts to Devastate Global Health
The Trump administration has ended funding for HIV, malaria, and maternal health programs that it previously classified as lifesaving.
TroibNews 
The Trump administration has determined that numerous programs designed to assist individuals in the world's poorest countries are no longer aligned with national interests.
On Wednesday, the administration announced significant reductions in foreign aid, affecting vital services such as HIV treatment, prevention, and research, health services for malaria, as well as maternal and infant care. Global health and humanitarian organizations impacted by these cuts voiced their concerns, highlighting that this will also cease basic health services for those displaced by conflict in regions such as Sudan and Gaza.
“This reckless and unilateral move will cost millions of lives around the world,” declared the Global Health Council, an alliance of nonprofits and companies reliant on U.S. foreign aid. The council has initiated a legal challenge against the foreign aid reductions.
Immediately after taking office, President Donald Trump froze foreign aid, stating that his administration would conduct a review to ensure funding adheres to Trump’s “America First” policy. Shortly thereafter, Secretary of State Marco Rubio mentioned that lifesaving aid would continue under a waiver.
However, on Wednesday, the administration announced the conclusion of the review. Among the programs cut were those funded by the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, or PEPFAR, a program credited with saving approximately 25 million lives globally since its inception in 2003 under former President George W. Bush.
Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts provided the administration with temporary relief on Wednesday from a lower court's ruling that mandated the release of frozen funds due to the lack of a “good-faith, individualized assessment” of the halted grants and contracts.
In its appeal to Roberts, the administration claimed to have completed the assessment, indicating to the lower court that it was terminating over 90 percent of 6,300 USAID awards valued at $54 billion and 60 percent of the State Department’s 6,800 awards worth $4.4 billion.
“Secretary [of State Marco] Rubio has now made a final decision with respect to each award, on an individual basis, affirmatively electing to either retain the award or terminate it … as inconsistent with the national interests and foreign policy of the United States,” the court’s document asserted.
Experts in global health expressed concern that reducing access to prevention and treatment services for HIV and malaria could foster drug resistance, considerably diminishing the effectiveness of these medications in the future.
“With HIV prevention programs halting immediately, we are headed for disaster,” stated Yvette Raphael, the executive director of Advocacy for Prevention of HIV and AIDS in South Africa.
PEPFAR accounts for nearly a fifth of the HIV/AIDS funding in South Africa, which has over 7 million people living with HIV, the highest number globally.
A spokesperson for the State Department noted that USAID “retained critical awards, including food assistance; life-saving medical treatments for HIV, tuberculosis, and malaria; and critical support for nations like Lebanon, Haiti, Venezuela, Cuba, and others.”
However, the spokesperson and the State Department did not clarify why programs previously covered by Rubio’s waiver were terminated.
Since the announcement on Wednesday, the administration has canceled at least seven awards aimed at providing lifesaving humanitarian support such as food assistance and emergency health care in Gaza. This includes awards granted to organizations like Catholic Relief Services and International Medical Corps totaling at least $100 million, as confirmed by a USAID official who requested anonymity to avoid any repercussions.
These awards had received waivers from Rubio on January 31, but aid partners have not been compensated since the administration began. While some awards for the conflict remain active, their future is uncertain.
The International Medical Corps based in Los Angeles reported that it received cancellation notices for most of its U.S. government-funded programs, stating, “this loss of funding will significantly impact our lifesaving global operations.” A representative from Baltimore-based Catholic Relief Services opted not to comment.
The Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation in Washington, which has provided HIV treatment services across several African nations, announced that agreements with USAID supporting more than 350,000 individuals, including nearly 10,000 children and over 10,000 HIV-positive pregnant women, were terminated. These programs had previously been approved to resume limited operations under Rubio’s waiver.
The nonprofit Alight, based in Minneapolis, revealed it received termination notices for programs in Sudan, Somalia, and South Sudan that were delivering emergency health care services, including aid for severely malnourished children and women facing pregnancy complications in remote locations.
The Sudan program, serving approximately 2.1 million people displaced by civil war, continued during the foreign aid freeze under the waiver, according to CEO Jocelyn Wyatt. “We closed 33 primary health clinics in Sudan, and 12 health facilities in Somalia and water and sanitation services across three camps in Darfur,” she explained.
Alight also operates six stabilization centers for severely malnourished children in Sudan, which it intends to keep operational, pending the acquisition of private funding, Wyatt added.
Additionally, a program delivering tests and medications for malaria to over 1 million people in Myanmar was also discontinued. Reports indicate that malaria cases have surged by nearly 800 percent in certain areas of the country in recent years due to ongoing conflict, according to a former USAID contractor who spoke anonymously out of concern for retribution.
The United Nations HIV program, referred to as UNAIDS, also lost its U.S. funding; the U.S. contributed the majority of the organization’s budget in 2023, totaling nearly $96 million, according to UNAIDS documents.
Sophie Wagner contributed to this report for TROIB News
On Wednesday, the administration announced significant reductions in foreign aid, affecting vital services such as HIV treatment, prevention, and research, health services for malaria, as well as maternal and infant care. Global health and humanitarian organizations impacted by these cuts voiced their concerns, highlighting that this will also cease basic health services for those displaced by conflict in regions such as Sudan and Gaza.
“This reckless and unilateral move will cost millions of lives around the world,” declared the Global Health Council, an alliance of nonprofits and companies reliant on U.S. foreign aid. The council has initiated a legal challenge against the foreign aid reductions.
Immediately after taking office, President Donald Trump froze foreign aid, stating that his administration would conduct a review to ensure funding adheres to Trump’s “America First” policy. Shortly thereafter, Secretary of State Marco Rubio mentioned that lifesaving aid would continue under a waiver.
However, on Wednesday, the administration announced the conclusion of the review. Among the programs cut were those funded by the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, or PEPFAR, a program credited with saving approximately 25 million lives globally since its inception in 2003 under former President George W. Bush.
Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts provided the administration with temporary relief on Wednesday from a lower court's ruling that mandated the release of frozen funds due to the lack of a “good-faith, individualized assessment” of the halted grants and contracts.
In its appeal to Roberts, the administration claimed to have completed the assessment, indicating to the lower court that it was terminating over 90 percent of 6,300 USAID awards valued at $54 billion and 60 percent of the State Department’s 6,800 awards worth $4.4 billion.
“Secretary [of State Marco] Rubio has now made a final decision with respect to each award, on an individual basis, affirmatively electing to either retain the award or terminate it … as inconsistent with the national interests and foreign policy of the United States,” the court’s document asserted.
Experts in global health expressed concern that reducing access to prevention and treatment services for HIV and malaria could foster drug resistance, considerably diminishing the effectiveness of these medications in the future.
“With HIV prevention programs halting immediately, we are headed for disaster,” stated Yvette Raphael, the executive director of Advocacy for Prevention of HIV and AIDS in South Africa.
PEPFAR accounts for nearly a fifth of the HIV/AIDS funding in South Africa, which has over 7 million people living with HIV, the highest number globally.
A spokesperson for the State Department noted that USAID “retained critical awards, including food assistance; life-saving medical treatments for HIV, tuberculosis, and malaria; and critical support for nations like Lebanon, Haiti, Venezuela, Cuba, and others.”
However, the spokesperson and the State Department did not clarify why programs previously covered by Rubio’s waiver were terminated.
Since the announcement on Wednesday, the administration has canceled at least seven awards aimed at providing lifesaving humanitarian support such as food assistance and emergency health care in Gaza. This includes awards granted to organizations like Catholic Relief Services and International Medical Corps totaling at least $100 million, as confirmed by a USAID official who requested anonymity to avoid any repercussions.
These awards had received waivers from Rubio on January 31, but aid partners have not been compensated since the administration began. While some awards for the conflict remain active, their future is uncertain.
The International Medical Corps based in Los Angeles reported that it received cancellation notices for most of its U.S. government-funded programs, stating, “this loss of funding will significantly impact our lifesaving global operations.” A representative from Baltimore-based Catholic Relief Services opted not to comment.
The Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation in Washington, which has provided HIV treatment services across several African nations, announced that agreements with USAID supporting more than 350,000 individuals, including nearly 10,000 children and over 10,000 HIV-positive pregnant women, were terminated. These programs had previously been approved to resume limited operations under Rubio’s waiver.
The nonprofit Alight, based in Minneapolis, revealed it received termination notices for programs in Sudan, Somalia, and South Sudan that were delivering emergency health care services, including aid for severely malnourished children and women facing pregnancy complications in remote locations.
The Sudan program, serving approximately 2.1 million people displaced by civil war, continued during the foreign aid freeze under the waiver, according to CEO Jocelyn Wyatt. “We closed 33 primary health clinics in Sudan, and 12 health facilities in Somalia and water and sanitation services across three camps in Darfur,” she explained.
Alight also operates six stabilization centers for severely malnourished children in Sudan, which it intends to keep operational, pending the acquisition of private funding, Wyatt added.
Additionally, a program delivering tests and medications for malaria to over 1 million people in Myanmar was also discontinued. Reports indicate that malaria cases have surged by nearly 800 percent in certain areas of the country in recent years due to ongoing conflict, according to a former USAID contractor who spoke anonymously out of concern for retribution.
The United Nations HIV program, referred to as UNAIDS, also lost its U.S. funding; the U.S. contributed the majority of the organization’s budget in 2023, totaling nearly $96 million, according to UNAIDS documents.
Sophie Wagner contributed to this report for TROIB News
